An Angel's Light
by Corvus no Genmu
Summary: Monster Rancher 4 Fic. Everyone seemed to know. Everyone but her. How could I think it would be easy to say three simple words? Maybe I should get her something. Something... to make her happy again... PhayneRio pairing.
1. The Beginning

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**Disclaimer: Don't own nuthin' o' Monster Rancher, though de monsters be me own.**

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**An Angel's Light **

By Corvus no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland

Squall smirked to himself as he launched another rock at the huge training gadget before him before growling in satisfaction at the sight of the large rock striking the Target's center. Squall nodded to himself before picking up another stone in his clawed paws. Chucking it with all his Garu might, Squall growled once more and picked up another rock while looking out towards the lake. Squall soon became distracted at watching the person standing by the lake and failed to notice that he had thrown the rock straight _up_ until said rock impacted quite heavily on his furry head.

"_OW!_"

Startled slightly out of her training regime, Tohru looked over first towards Squall, who was now holding his large head in pain while wriggling on the ground. Chuckling to herself quietly, the Mocchi purebred looked over to where Squall had, most likely, been looking earlier while still exercising with the Life Blade in her pink paws. However, the sight that awaited the young Mocchi was more than enough to cause her steady beat to lessen until the paddle-like Life Blade slowed to a stop.

"Chi…?"

Near the two small monsters, Brillig and Van were doing quite well with their training regimes. Van, a purebred Tiger, was trotting at a comfortable speed in his training gadget, a Thunder Mac (which basically resembles a giant hamster wheel), while his purebred Dragon friend, Brillig, was riding on the docile Rodeo gadget. While trotting on his gadget, Van's canine senses drew his eyes away from the wheel towards the lake much like Squall and Tohru, and, like Squall, Van ended up messing up his training. Because he was not watching his front paws, Van failed to notice that he had planted his right paw a little too close to the center. Thus, when he started to move his left paw, his left foreleg bumped into his right and caused the Tiger to fall ungracefully. Worse yet, the wheel, already at full speed thanks to Van, kept spinning at such a speed that the adult Tiger found himself literally pushed down into the wheel.

"_Cra-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ap!_"

Shortly before this occurred, Brillig's training regime suffered a similar fate. Brillig may not be a Crevasse (Dragon/Tiger) but his draconic senses were as good as any Tiger's own. Just like Van, Brillig's attention was drawn away from his training gadget to look onwards towards the lake. Had the training gadget not been so docile, Brillig may have paid more attention to it. Alas, the purebred Dragon did not and paid for it. For the moment his eyes left the head of Rodeo gadget and his claws firm grip loosen by the slightest bit, the Rodeo gadget lived up to its ancient design and began to buck much like the creature it was based upon.

"_WHOA!_"

A little ways off from the two strong monsters, Goliath, a purebred Golem, sat on the ground before his training gadget of the week. Goliath could not help but scratch his craggy head as he stared at the strange words of the Book before him. The text was _very_ ancient and quite hard to decipher for many monsters, including ones that had been sealed _before_ the creation of newer texts. Standing beside the rock monster, was the breeder to all the monsters on the ranch. A teenaged human boy by the name of Phayne.

Phayne was also looking deeply at the text book as though it would suddenly reveal its true contents to him. Phayne was the kind of breeder that would never ask for anything from his monsters that he would not do himself. Every day he'd work out with one of the monsters as they trained on their gadgets. Though, in some case, he merely did a form of similar exercise near the training gadget.

Goliath sighed tiredly and glanced over his shoulder towards the lake that he lost himself gazing in. However, it was not the lake that drew the monster's attention but rather the human girl standing on the cliff overlooking it. Phayne sensed that his monsters had all lost their focus towards their training and turned himself to see what was drawing their attention.

" Rio?"

Phayne quietly crept towards the chestnut-haired assistant of his ranch. Phayne had to flinch at that thought. Ever since Rio had come and became his assistant, he never really thought of the ranch as _his_ more like it was _theirs_. This fact was proven many times when Phayne accompanied Rio whenever they were in need of food for both themselves and the monsters. Creeping quieter than a Zan, Phayne hid behind a large bush to carefully observe Rio without her knowing.

It was at this time the saying, 'like breeder like monster' definition was shown for Phayne's own monsters followed their breeder's example and slowly crept along to stand next near him. Of course, the bush was only so large and Brillig and Goliath easily stuck out due to their large size. The purebred Golem tried to cover himself by grabbing to large twigs, both covered with leaves, to hide behind while Brillig scrunched down until only his head and a bit of his sinuous neck stuck up above the bush.

'What could be up with Rio?' Phayne thought to himself silently, 'Could it have to do with that Lesione, Philia brought last a few days ago? She had been acting rather strange after the Lesione showed her… whatever it was…' Phayne's former classmate had developed a sort of routine that involved her showing and asking Phayne and Rio's opinion on any new monster she had acquired for her ranch. It was because of this that Gram became even grouchier around Phayne than usual. It was only after a successful battle between Squall and Dodongo, Gram's special breed Golem, to get Gram to calm down enough for Phayne to privately explain to the slightly overweight rancher that he had no interest in Philia and that he wished Gram the best of luck to attain her heart just like she had unknowingly attained his.

It was not soon after that Gram wished Phayne luck with Rio as well.

Not that the former Elives School student needed it.

… Much…

'I'm getting off track here. I've gotta figure out what's wrong with Rio!' Phayne all but glared at the wonderful figure of the girl that had not only found a way into his monsters' hearts but his own as well. Phayne couldn't help but remember that time that seemed so long ago when he was only raising Squall and his crush on Rio had begun to grow. He smiled to himself when he remembered how he reacted when she said the family needs to grow. He had been caught in a daydream at the time and her saying that kind of shocked him enough to cause him to nearly fall off the cliff.

Suddenly, Phayne and his monsters, who had also gone through their own memories about the chestnut-haired assistant, became aware that Rio had turned around to see them watching her. There were many startled gasps before a mad frenzy to escape from the girl's eyes began. So concerned were the monsters and human about getting away so that their concerns for the girl went unnoticed, they all failed to notice the single solitary tear trickle down Rio's pale face.

* * *

Phayne sighed tiredly at the many looks that he was receiving from the townsfolk of Togle. The looks stemmed mostly from the fact that _all_ of his monsters had decided to come with him to Togle that evening to help Phayne in attaining some advice to cheer Rio up. It was a miracle alone that Phayne had managed to convince Rio that he would do the shopping alone, so of course it take more than that to convince his monsters that they _all_ didn't have to help. He had come close to outright ordering them to stay so that Rio wouldn't get suspicious but Tohru let loose her ultimate attack.

The puppy-pout.

So it was that Phayne found himself the center of many people's attention.

"Sigh… C'mon you guys, we'll see what help Yuri can provide." The monsters exchanged wide smiles with each other. Though they never came all at the same time whenever Phayne and Rio went to a town, especially Togle, they had learned from late-night talks with each other that Yuri had often snuck them a honey drop or two for them when Phayne and Rio weren't looking. Though Rio had her suspicions, Phayne was totally clueless, thus meaning more snacks for them.

"_Mmmm! I hope Yuri-san has that new Honey Toast! I LOVE honey!_" exclaimed Tohru as she twirled and danced alongside her fellow monsters. Squall chuckled to himself.

"_You LOVE **anything** that's sweet, Tohru-chan._"

"_As do certain Garu,_" smirked Van to himself while Goliath and Brillig laughed at the blushing Squall. Though he was technically the oldest, Squall still acted much like the teenager that he was. Especially when it came to Tohru. Brillig shook his triangular head and stomped a bit ways forward ahead of them to hover near Phayne.

Like many of the monsters when they were 'born' out of mystery disks, Brillig and the others had assumed that Phayne and Rio were their parents. Though Rio told them the truth, all the monsters of Genki Ranch fully believed that though Phayne and Rio were not their parents by blood, they were their parents by heart. And so, like any loving children would do, the monsters did everything they could to bring the somewhat hyper Phayne and ever calm Rio together.

Brillig suddenly spotted a rather young breeder, a newbie by the smell of both him and his monster, a purebred Plant, eyeing Phayne much like a cat would a mouse. Growling under his breath, Brillig leaned his head down and bumped his snout gently against Phayne's face, earning a small pat from the distracted breeder and quite a wide-eyed look from the new breeder and the Plant. Though many breeders could handle a Garu, Mocchi, or even a Tiger, it took exceptional ranchers to successfully raise a Dragon.

So it was no wonder that both monster and rancher ran for the hills.

* * *

The sound of the bell signaling the arrival of a potential customer drew Yuri's attention away from her shelf-stocking in the far back of her family's store. Dusting her hands off on her cream-colored apron, the short-haired owner/manager of Togle's Item Shop, stepped out from the shelves to greet whoever had stepped into her store.

"Welcome! Is there anything I can-WHOA!" Yuri was not unaccustomed to having customers bring in their monsters with them but she had never had anyone bring in so many! Especially the one whom she had come to call one of her best friends. "Phayne? What in the world…?" Yuri glanced at each of the brown-haired boy's monsters, what some of them she could see anyway. For though her family's shop was quite large and easy for many various sized monsters, it wasn't built for such a large number. Luckily, Phayne's monsters had also come to this conclusion thus the reason why Brillig and Goliath were standing like purebred Monols outside her store.

"It's a long story…" sighed Phayne.

"Well… I'm actually about to take a break anyway, how about you tell me what brings all of you here?"

* * *

"I see… and Rio never told you what she saw…?"

"No… she just got this really sad face and walked into the house before she started staring at the lake… I don't know what that Lesione of Philia's showed Rio but I've _got_ to find a way to cheer her up!" Phayne's monsters barked their agreement while Yuri smiled softly to herself. She had a pretty good idea why Rio was depressed but she knew it was better that Phayne figure it out on his own. It might just be the thing that both he and Rio need.

"Well… Rio told me once of this exceptionally rare flower her mother had given her once. Her mother used to be a ruin explorer and she chanced upon the flowers." Yuri smiled softly to herself, "Since she was the first to discover them, Rio's mother named them 'Angel's Light' for the flowers literally sparkle in light of the sun and moon." Little stars seemed to appear in Tohru's eyes as she sighed softly and leaned against a blushing Squall. Van merely looked up at the ceiling, silently thinking of where he had seen such a flower.

When Van was first resurrected from his mystery disk, he had the curiosity to match that of a cat. All the strange scents that were out there and Van had wanted to see them all. In fact, whenever he had gone somewhere new, Van had made sure to catalogue both the smell and sight of virtually every plant that existed. However, Van had never come across a plant, let alone a _flower_, that sparkled. He growled confusedly to voice this to Phayne-sama.

"What's that, Van?" Phayne kneeled down so that he was eye-to-eye with the large Tiger monster. "Do you know where we can find such a flower?" Van shook his canine head.

"_No… I've never seen such a plant…_" Phayne and Van's fellow monsters all sighed at the same time while Yuri hid a giggle behind her hand.

"Actually, Rio's mother told her that the flowers only grow at high altitudes such as where she had found the first patch."

"Great! So we just got to get as high as she did to get a flower! It should be no problem for Brillig!" Though the purebred Dragon was standing sentry alongside Goliath, both had been listening in on the conversation in the item shop. Brillig grinned and roared loudly to voice his agreement to Phayne's plan.

"Phayne… Rio's mother had found the Angel's Light flower near the top of Infinity Mountain." Phayne's eyes widened before he deflated like a balloon. Infinity Mountain was the tallest mountain on the entire planet. It was so high that many of the nomad tribes that lived near it believed the three beast gods lived there on its top. No one, human or monster, had ever reached the top of the mountain before.

"Well there's a first time for everything!" said Phayne aloud, startling his monsters and Yuri.

"What?"

"I may not be able to get to Infinity Mountain, but I think the plateaus in the north should do the trick!" Phayne grinned his all-too-familiar grin. "Not only are they close enough for Rio not to get suspicious but they're low enough for me to climb!"

"Phayne! You can't be serious!" exclaimed Yuri, standing up from behind her counter.

"I am, Yuri. Rio's happiness means everything to me."

"… You really love her don't you…?" Phayne's expression saddened slightly as he looked out towards the street to see the sun was close to setting.

"…… Yeah…"

"Sigh… I guess all I can say is… good luck… to both tasks."

Phayne smiled softly at his friend. "Thanks, Yuri. C'mon guys and gal! We got to think up a plan to get Rio distracted for the next few days!" Phayne and his monsters all but ran out the door, all quite eager to bring a smile to Rio's face. Grabbing a few items off some shelves, Yuri set them on the counter and rang up the cash register that Gunwale had given her for her birthday a few weeks ago. Yuri felt a small blush adorn her face, but she ignored it for now. She'd sort out her feelings for the fish-loving sailor at a more convenient time.

"Uh… Yuri…?" The Togle Item Shop owner smiled to herself. 'Right on time.'

"That'll be 50G for the potatoes and 275G for the uncooked meat, Phayne."

"Right…"


	2. The Middle

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**Disclaimer: Don't own nuthin' o' Monster Rancher, though de monsters be me own.**

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**An Angel's Light **

By Corvus no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland

Phayne smiled to himself as he and all of his monsters walked along the grassy hills that would lead into Aipotu Valley where the many numerous Plateaus of Dorugora stood tall and proud on the distant horizon, just past the many numerous ranges that dotted and protected the valley. He had already managed to convince Rio that she needn't accompany him on this new adventure to the north lands. Actually, he sort of spun a small yarn of lies, telling Rio that a very personal friend was in need of his, and his monsters', assistance. It wasn't a whole lie considering that Rio _was_ the friend in need of assistance. Smiling to himself, Phayne raised a fist upwards towards the sky and shouted a loud cry for hope and victory towards their goal with his monsters echoing with their cries of their own.

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Rio blinked as she slowly became aware of herself. Slowly, she sat up and gazed around her room which was nearly bare except for her bed and a vanity that once belonged to her mother. Her face set once more in her near constant expression of sadness, Rio stood and moved to her vanity. Picking up a large brush, the near-telepathic girl slowly moved its rough teeth through her chestnut-colored hair, straightening it and removing any small knots formed during her night of nightmare-filled sleep.

Rio paused in her brushstrokes before setting her brush down. The nightmares she had experienced just mere hours ago struck home more than any before. It did not help that the dreams were so close to the reality that she was currently experiencing. The near silence that filled not only the entire house but the entire ranch saddened the girl even further. Sighing quietly, Rio stood and made her way down to the kitchen, all thoughts of brushing her hair floating away with the windy morning.

However, upon passing a certain brown-haired boy's room, the teenaged girl put a pause to her step. Hesitating slightly, Rio slowly moved towards the open doorway of the boy she had come to not only respect greatly, but much, much more.

If only he felt the same…

Stepping carefully into the room, Rio gazed around Phayne's bedroom noting idly how it was decorated far more than her own. Though the decorations were hardly that. True, Phayne did have the odd poster or two of his favorite breeders. Had Rio not been focused on the room entirely, she would have noted that each poster of a rancher not only had the rancher's top monster, but a female assistant with a golden band adorning her finger to match the breeder's own. Nonetheless, Rio continued with her inspection of Phayne's room.

She smiled softly at the sight of a shelf with framed pictures of each of the monsters on the ranch along with a small item from them. What stood next to the monster's picture varied depending on the monster. For both Squall and Van, there was a fang, one small and one slightly larger, next to their portraits while Tohru's had a small cherry blossom-like feather next to it. For Brillig, there was a coppery red scale that had come off from his first molting while there was a small collection of sparkling dust for Goliath's own first molting. However, the bright smile that adorned Rio's face disappeared at the sight of the framed picture that adorned the top of Phayne's nightstand.

"When was this taken…?" Rio bent down slightly to pick up a picture of her and Phayne, both yelling excitedly about something. Further scrutiny revealed that it was taken at Squall's first Official Cup victory a year ago. "Has it really been that long…? Have we known each other that long…?" Rio's eyes began to water as she carefully hugged the picture to her chest. "Oh Phayne…"

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"ACHOO! Sniff… Wow! That was a big one! What was it about sneezes?" Phayne tapped his chin thoughtfully as he sat somewhat comfortably on Goliath's large boulder-like shoulder. Tohru looked down at the human from where she stood behind Goliath's head while Squall leaned forward from his perch on Goliath's opposite shoulder. Goliath himself looked out of the corner of his yellow pebble-like eyes at the brown-eyed rancher. Meanwhile, Brillig flapped a small distance above them while Van swam alongside the walking Goliath.

"_What about sneezes?_" asked Tohru quizzically. Phayne smiled to himself, he would have to tell Rio that, though he was not at her level, he was slowly learning to understand monsters just as much as her.

"Well Tohru, there's an old wive's tale that basically says that depending on the number of times you sneeze, someone is thinking good or bad thoughts about you." Squall, Tohru, and Goliath all exchanged weird looks with one another.

"_Human wives have tales?_"

Had the monsters known of Phayne's secret, they would have understood why he suddenly broke out into loud laughter.

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Rio sighed to herself as she made herself a simple dinner. A simple dinner that consisted of a simple ham and cheese sandwich. Rio had felt little hunger throughout the day with memories and bad dreams haunting her throughtout the chores she had given herself. Taking small bites, Rio thought back to what she had done so far around the ranch. She had cleaned all the training gadgets and had refurbished the barn.

Rio had to smile as she remember how many toys and items that Phayne and herself had given their monsters and how they were-Wait. … Did she just think…? She did. Rio, not for the first time since she had moved in with Phayne, blushed as red as her assistant's uniform. She buried her heated face into her hands, silently berating herself for thinking such things. She was Phayne's assistant, nothing more and nothing less.

Even though Phayne never let her do her assistant duties alone… never let her go into town by herself… never treated her like a freak but as a friend… Always asking her to accompany him on his adventures into the Togle Caves or Kalaragi Jungle… until recently anyway…

Rio supposed that it came from her recent depression from seeing Philia's Lesione, Nessie, and her thoughts. Nessie had shown Rio her dreams and her hopes for a future where her kind would live and where she too would live once she had retired from fighting. She showed Rio what she dreamed of what would become her family both young and old, and it was this dream of families and love that sent Rio into the depths of depression.

Ever since her mother died and the shrine opened up, Rio's family life had been anything but that. Her father was appointed the priest of the shrine and was in charge of anything and everything that had to do with it, so he had little time for his daughter and her _unique_ gift. Gift. Such a word had always made her scoff before… before she met Phayne. Her 'gift' may not have separated her from monsters but it separated her from her own kind. Yuri was one of the few people who knew of her gift and was her friend nonetheless.

True, she had many friends now thanks to Phayne, but Rio often found herself wondering if they would remain as such should they find out about her ability to understand monsters. She sometimes wondered if she'd even have a boyfriend, let alone a husband, that would treat not like some sort of tool to raise monsters or as a freak of nature, deserving punishments unjust to anyone but her. She wondered if that person would be like Phayne.

Or Phayne himself.

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"It's almost ready guys, be patient." Phayne stoked the fire with a large branch he and Squall had found when they were gathering firewood. A large piece of meat was hanging above the fire as it slowly became brown from the flames. It was the last piece of meat left after a large lunch and dinner, so it was to be shared by everyone. Phayne knew this would be hard because, though the meat was larger than his head, his monsters' love of the bovine meat was bigger.

Squall resting against the palms of his clawed paws with his fanged mouth opened nearly drooling as he anxiously awaited for the meat to finish cooking. Brillig was leaning down and staring deeply at the meat and the flames that cooked it, silently wondering if he should assist with the cooking. Van looked like he was sitting quite patiently but his fluffy tail's constant wagging gave away his eagerness. Above and behind Phayne, Goliath was sitting with his arms hugging his legs with a rocky smile on his craggy face. Though Golems were often vegetarians or even metal consumers, like Hengers and the odd Joker or two, they still enjoyed a piece of meat every now and again. Tohru seemed to be the only monster with any patience in her, though she was swaying from side to side presumably hearing her own music. As Phayne continued to stook the flames, he was unaware of Brillig rearing his head back and taking a deep lungful of air until a bright rush of flames exited from the Dragon's mouth and onto the small fire.

"ACK!" Phayne dropped the stick and fell back as did the other monsters except for Goliath who had no concern about fire since he was made of stone. Now one would think that there was no reason for the normal-skinned monsters and breeder to jump away from Brillig's flames, that a Dragon as experienced as Brillig would be more than capable of controlling the amount of fire in his breath.

Well that person would be wrong.

A Dragon's fire can be used to cook, but is rarely done considering that most Dragons prefer such meat as uncooked fish and even the odd mango or two. That and a Dragon's flame is more often used for attacking prey or opponents, even other Dragons, and because of that, a Dragon's fire was quite powerful even for baby ones and they only get stronger as the Dragon gets older. Thus it could be said that it was _because_ Brillig was _experienced_ that the others had jumped away.

* * *

"_WHY, GODS! WHAT DID THE MEAT DO TO DESERVE THIS!_" wailed Squall as he stared at the severly blackened meat. Beside him, Tohru was also staring albeit with tears in her eyes while Van looked nonchalant. Goliath gaped sadly at the burned meat while Brillig sat away from them with his back turned to them and his wings drooping pathetically feeling quite guilty for getting over-enthuisiastic.

Again.

"Calm down, Squall. No use crying over spilled milk after all."

"_But it wasn't milk! It was MEAT! Sweet succulent meat from a cow! A cow! You don't just go out to a pasture and find one you know!_" Phayne sighed and tossed the meat away deep into the underbrush.

"Get some sleep guys. We got a lot of land to cover tomorrow and a large plateau to climb."

* * *

Rio sighed for what could have been the hundredth time that morning alone, but since she had stopped counting back in the forties range… Sighing inwardly this time, Rio leaned back against the trunk of the now permanently sleeping Mockruji, the last, to Rio's knowledge, Mock on all of Gaea. It was sad in a way that many monsters had become 'extinct' in the past decade but then again, those monsters, Monols and Galis to name a few, were rare to begin with.

A watering can, modeled after a Lesione, sat next to the assistant, still filled completely with water. It was just one of many chores that Rio had found herself quite unable to do. Her mind kept replaying moments when she attempted to do a chore by herself when Phayne would appear, often accompanied by one of the monsters on the ranch, and help her out. She was embarrassed to think that she had forgotten how to do chores without the brown-haired boy's help.

"Sigh… I really should try do _something_… I'm sure Phayne and the others are doing something with their time…"

* * *

"ACHOO! Sniff…… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…" Though the sneeze did startle everyone, no one, monster or human, found it difficult to fall back to their morning nap.

* * *

The afternoon's yellow sun shined brightly down upon the many plateaus that decorated the Aipotu Valley. The forested hills of the valley were erratic in their thickness of trees just like the plateaus' variation in size but not in shape. There was an ancient legend behind these plateaus but Phayne had heard little about it. All he knew was that it involved a monster by the name of Dorugora and a beast by the name of Moo. However, legends and fairy tales were not really the main focus of Phayne's thoughts at the moment.

Climbing the highest plateau in the valley was.

Clenching his teeth tightly, Phayne struggled to pull himself up the nearly ledge less plateau with Squall not far below him. Phayne had argued against the Squall about joining him on his climb to the plateau's top, but the Garu would have none of it. Out of all the monsters, he was the only one capable of joining Phayne to the plateau's top. Brillig had argued loudly against this but backed down when Goliath reminded him that he was still young in Dragon years and, though he could try, he would most likely not make it to the plateau's top without exhausting himself. Nonetheless, Brillig had literally slammed his foot down saying that he would at least fly Phayne and Squall as high as he could go and, even after dropping them off, the Dragon would circle the pillar-like plateau waiting for them.

"You okay down there, Squall!" Phayne looked down over his shoulder to see how his first monster was doing. The teenaged human was hit by the briefest bit but it soon passed. Too many flights with Brillig and rides upon Goliath's shoulders were all that was necessary for Phayne to lose any fears he had of heights. As it is, the only thing that Phayne feared the most was Rio's rejection.

"_Just… peachy…!_" Squall's short legs were flailing wildly with his claws dug deeply into a small crevice on the plateau.

"Squall! You're not 'just peachy'! Go back a bit and start over!"

Had Squall not been focused on the maintaining his grip, he would have noticed that Phayne had repeated what he had said word-for-word much like Rio. "_NO! I will not start over! You're giving your all to make Rio-mama happy and we're doing the same! We came because we care about her too! She's our mother just like your our father! And we WON'T abandon our parents! _GRRAAAAA!" Squall's fists became wrapped in bright orange flames shortly before he launched himself upwards to hang next to a stunned Phayne.

"Squall…" A small smile adorned the rancher's face, "Right! We can't start over! For Rio's happiness!"

Squall grinned his 'Phayne-Grin', "_For Rio!_"

It did not take long for either of them to reach the top, though Phayne did get there first since he did, after all, have bigger arms than the average-sized Garu. Breathing a tired sigh, Phayne slowly looked up to see emerald green grass covering the plateau's top in small patches as well as a little bit on top of the 'chibi' plateau.

The rest of the space was occupied by a small patch of Angel's Light flowers.

* * *

Rio looked up from her sit on a log that rested near the shores of Lake Ariel, which, in turn, rested near Genki Ranch. The chestnut-haired girl could have sworn she just heard a loud cry of joy followed by a variety of roars that echoed the human voice's joy. The monsters voices were too mixed for Rio to be able to discern them, but the human's…

"Phayne…?"

* * *

"_Booyaka! Booyaka!_" Squall all but sang as he ran alongside Phayne with Brillig flying alongside him.

"_What the heck does that even mean anyway?_" asked Brillig.

"_I don't know, and I'm too happy to care!_" Squall grinned widely at Brillig while Tohru giggled at the Garu's antics, causing the unofficial leader of the monster group to blush redder than his fur.

"_Must we run though? It took us nearly two days to get here!_" asked Goliath worriedly glancing down at the much smaller Tohru. Golems were often infamously known for accidentally stepping and crushing objects underneath their stony feet. Though many would call it an old wive's tale, this wasn't really the case with Goliath who had, for the first few months of his life, accidentally stepped on a lot of things. Add that with a Mocchi's infamously known klutziness and lack of balance when running and well…

Phayne gazed upwards towards the sky and saw that it was darkening rapidly.

Too rapidly.

"Hold up guys…" The monsters stopped right in their tracks and looked towards their friend, father, and rancher, curious about the change in the tone of his voice. "I may not be Rio when it comes to understanding you guys fully, or sensing stuff, good or bad, but… something tells me we're about to have company…"

The monsters stiffened at this and looked around quickly, each going into their own modes of searching the land around them. Squall edged closer to Tohru so that he was in a better position to guard her if an attack should come he'd be in a better position to guard her. Though the Mocchi purebred could easily take care of herself, she, as well as Van, were still Rank B monsters while he was Rank S, with Goliath and Brillig both in Rank A. Out of all the monsters, he was the best to provide defense for Tohru.

Beside the Garu, Van was doing the same but with Phayne. His Tiger instincts were all but screaming for him to protect both his pack and his patriarch. Van's royal-blue mane stood on end while his furry tail trashed wildly to show both his anxiety and his eagerness for the enemy to appear. Behind Van and Phayne, Goliath stood tall with his large arms held up in one of the many defensive positions that Phayne had taught him and that his Golem instincts improved upon. Unlike the others, Goliath did not possess any sort of beast-like senses and thus, was the weakest link in their chain of defense. So, to make up for this weakness, Goliath spread his arms and legs out to provide a decent enough cover for his friends.

Next to the Golem purebred, Brillig glared at the surrounding trees and small outcroppings of rocks that fell from the many plateaus that decorated Aipotu Valley. Dragons were well known for their hawk-like eyes but were also infamously known for their weakness of dark places. A Dragon's eyes worked best when there was light, a fact that few people, even those that raised a Dragon, ever knew about.

Apparently, whatever was doing this knew of it too.

Out of the darkness came a loud cackling, like the demented laughter of a clown. This immediately put everyone on edge, forcing them to stand back to back as they all tried to pierce the growing darkness that threaned to overwhelm them. Alas, even with their strong defense and their high rankings… not one of them could escape…

Their worst nightmare.

* * *

Tohru didn't know how she had come to be there, a moment ago she had been standing beside Squall and Van and the next… she was here. Fog covered everything while pale shadows twirled and danced, silently mocking the Mocchi's fear and confusion.

Wherever here _was_…

"Hsssssssssss…" Tohru yelped and whirled around to face-

Nothing.

"Hsssssssssss…" Tohru whirled around once again to face nothing, the fog that surrounded her too thick to pierce. "_Sssssssso young… sssssso_ _afraid… Hsssss… Your meat will be deliciousssssssss…_" The fog slowly parted to reveal to Tohru the one type of monster she hoped to never see as long as she lived.

A Naga.

But this Naga was different than any Tohru had ever seen or heard of before. The Naga's skin was tanned to start with, and it seemed to lack any sort of scales whatsoever. In fact, the tanned skin looked to be the underskin often seen when a Naga loses a scale. But this Naga looked as though its scales had been ripped off by something… something that had, apparently, whipped the monster badly for years, the Naga's large red scars a silent testament to this treatment. '_But what kind of monster would do that…?_'

"Hsssssssss…" The Naga's three pairs of eyes glowed red as it drew nearer. Tohru backed away slowly from it before full-out running from it.

"_SQUALL!_"

* * *

"_Tohru! Phayne! Anyone! Where are you!_" Squall's voice echoed in the dark tunnel that he had found himself in. Stalactites hung from the cave's ceiling like spears ready to fall upon the worried Garu, but Squall did not care. He was strong enough to take care of any stupid rock.

"Hehehehehehehe…" Squall whirled around quickly. The snickering seemed to come from every direction and the purebred Garu found it hard to find where it was coming from.

"_Who's there! Show yourself!_" demanded Squall, his clawed paws clenched into tight fists, ready to attack should the need arise.

"_You think you're strong do you…?_" Squall blinked in surprise. Though he understood the words, the dialect behind them was quite foreign to the Garu. It was one of the many unexplainable traits of monster kind really; monsters fully capable of understanding each other even though many used different variations to speak. Pixies, for example, spoke in bell-like noises while Tigers often barked or growled.

This voice though… Squall had only heard one other monster speak in such a dialect but he knew that monster couldn't be here now.

Suddenly, a large shape dropped down from the stalactites above Squall to land before the surprised Garu with a wet sounding THUMP. Squall's eyes narrowed as he took in the creature before him. '_I knew it. It's not Don but still a member of his species. _

'_A Gabu._'

Now, to be fair, Squall had never seen a Gabu except for Don and Don was a altered monster, so Squall had no real idea what a Gabu actually looked like but he highly doubted that any looked like the one before him. Though the Gabu was shaped a lot like Don, albeit with both hands and eyes and without any facial hair, it was colored very differently. Its clay-like skin was a deep purple, deeper than that of any purebred Naga, and its eyes were unlike Don's own single eye, which had been human-like.

This Gabu's eyes were reptilian and reflected mockery towards the slightly unnerved Garu.

"_You're not strong at all, Squall…_" spoke the Gabu, "_Dokoo knows it speaks true… Dokoo knows you are WEAK!_" With a loud battle-cry, the Dokoo launched itself towards Squall.

* * *

Van snarled angrily as he crept along meadow. He did not know how he had arrived in this strange land with nothing but this utterly bare meadow surrounding him, but he did know that he didn't like it. He howled loudly, hoping to hear any of his fellows or Phayne. He couldn't put a paw on it but he knew there was something out there, just beyond his eyesight, waiting for him to make the one mistake that would, most likely, cost the Tiger his life.

It was fortunate that something was unable to make a silent entrance.

"RAARR!" Van jumped to the side, dodging the gleaming silver spear by inches. Snarling angrily, Van backed away as the creature that had thrown the spear drew near. It was a monster that Van had never seen before but had heard about in old stories. The monster's lower body was like that of a animal that Van had seen from time to time and what Phayne had called a 'horse'. However, instead of a equine head, there was an upperbody of a humanoid creature that vaguely resembled a Zuum or perhaps a Dragon for, though the horse part was covered in soft brown fur, the upper body was covered in emerald green scales and the head of the monster was shaped much like a human's albeit with a draconic beak.

This monster was none other than a Centaur.

"_You are dishonorable,_" spoke the Centaur, slowly trotting in a large circle around the Tiger, "_You are a disgrace both to your kind and your master._"

"Grrrrrr… _SHUT UP!_" Neon blue lightning crackled along and between Van's horns as he snarled at the Centaur. "_LIGHTNING!_" The lightning arched out from the Tiger's horns towards the frowning Centaur.

"_USELESS!_" The Centaur twirled his silver spear in his clawed hands, causing the lightning to reflect away from him.

"_Im-Impossible…_"

* * *

Goliath looked around his surroundings, fear quite evident on his craggy face. He stood upon a plantless island composed entirely of stone in what seemed to be the middle of the ocean. An ocean that seemed to be composed not of water nor of any liquid that Goliath knew was drinkable.

It was an ocean of blood.

"_Goliiiiiiiiath…_" A voice as smooth as silk came from no true direction that the purebred Golem could discern.

"_Who's there? What do you want?_" Goliath tried to find the being that called out to him from no where.

"_Goliiiiiiiiath…… Can you hold back your power…?_" A humanoid form emerged from the crimson ocean surrounding the Golem. The large monster stepped slightly backwards in surprise by the form of the creature before him. It looked to be something similar to that of Pixie/Lesione combination, a Undine, but much more… more. It sounded stupid but it was quite true for the Pixie breed of Undine looked very much like the purebred Undinde albeit the Pixie breed possessed Pixie-like qualities such as horns, wings, and legs. This Undine, however, possessed none of these traits and looked to be nothing more than a human female with the lower body of a fish's tail. However, her skin and hair were both different shades of light blue, much like the Pixie breed of Undine and she had a strange growth of scales that covered her arms and her chest, protecting her modesty.

"_Can you hold back your strength, Goliath…?_" demurred the Undine, "_Can you prevent another near-death…?_"

Goliath's glowing yellow eyes widened and he tried to step away from the slowly advancing Undine as horrible images raced across his mind. Images of what he had done to his friend…

"_Lelola…_"

* * *

Brillig glared around the large banquet hall he had suddenly found himself in. He had no idea how he had to arrive there no did he know where here _was_ but he did know that he didn't like his surroundings at all. The stone walls and floor brought forth strange images to his draconic head and the large banners, all depicting bloody battles between monsters, humans, and creatures that befouled the word monster, that adorned the walls and ceilings of the hall had the large Dragon worried. Memories of his past sin still haunted the dragon even after the many pardons and talks from his family.

"_Have a thee foul creature!_" A metallic voice rang across the banquet hall, seemingly coming from both ends at the same time. Suddenly, a large crimson shape shot out from the only door out of the hall. With a startled roar, Brillig jumped upwards with his wings spread wide. Unfortunately, by doing this Brillig effectively got both his wings tangled among the many banners that hung from the arched ceiling of the banquet hall.

With a angry roar, Brillig opened his beak-like maw and spewed forth a thin plume of bright fire, turning many of the banners close to him instantly into ash. With the banners holding him burned away, Brillig dropped down from the ceiling and landed on his taloned feet with a loud THUD. However, though Brillig's fire had destroyed a few of the banners, many of them were still alit and the burning pieces falling from them were causing the table of the banquet hall to slowly catch fire as well.

"_AIR SHOT!_" Large burst of air cut through the hall, fluffing out the flames easier than water ever could. The attack was a familiar one to Brillig and one that he used from time to time, but it was not him who had done it.

It was the monster before him.

The monster was humanoid in nature, like many of his kin were, and composed entirely, and solely, out of a suit of human armor worn previously by ancient knights of Gaea's past. '_A Durahan…_' thought Brillig to himself, stepping back from the knight monster cautiously. '_But this one smells… strange…_' Like many of the monsters on Genki Ranch, Brillig had encountered a Durahan breed a few times before, Squall had even fought and won against an extremely rare breed, but the Dragon purebred had never faced one such as the one that was slowly walking towards him.

The Durahan's armor was light red, much like Brillig's own scales, and his shoulder pads had three sharp spikes curving upwards towards its Dragonhead-shaped helmet. This Durahan's scent was also different than any of the others that Brillig had met. For example, purebreds smelled like iron and steel while Curevis smelled very much like pumpkins, which wasn't that surprising considering that a Curevis was a combination of a Durahan and a Pancho. However, the Durahan breed before him smelled more… coppery and familiar than anything Brillig had ever smelled before. It smelled as though it was covered in blood.

Dragon's blood.

It was then that it finally clicked into place inside the Dragon's head. It explained why he had backed away from the monster instead of meeting it. All Dragons had a natural fear of this breed of Durahan, the breed known as Vesuvius.

"_Dost thou think that thou can destroy mine home like thou had nearly done to thine's_?" Vesuvius, wing-shaped sword slashing angrily, stomped angrily towards Brillig. "_Dost thou truly think thou can do unto mine home what thou hast done to thine own_?"

* * *

"What the? When did we? How did we?" Phayne twirled around, taking in the darkened skies that covered his and Rio's ranch. The rancher looked around for his monster friends but found that not one of them were standing beside or near him, though the pale light from the monsters' house gave Phayne a small clue as to where they disappeared to.

"Phayne? What are you doing out here?" Phayne twirled around to come face-to-face with the very person he had attained the Angel's Light flower for.

" Rio! Hi! I-uh…" Phayne's face gained a crimson flush as he hid the Angel's Light flower behind his back, away from Rio's line of sight. "Um… while we were out… I and the others got you something……" Rio merely arched a delicate eyebrow at her stuttering firend. "Here." Phayne jutted the flower and the specially woven orb that held it and its soil at Rio, a soft but nervous smile on his face. "It's an Angel's Light flower! You're favorite."

Rio stared at the flower in Phayne's hands, her face empty of all emotion. Suddenly, a angry frown appeared upon her pale face shortly before she smacked the Angel's Light out of Phayne's gloved hands.

"What the? Rio, why did you-"

"You really are an idiot. Do you really think a simple flower will make me fall for a thick-hearded jerk like you?" Rio's normally emotionless face was set into a dark sneer that looked foreign upon her pale face. Startled and hurt, Phayne backed away from the angry-eyed girl sneering before him.

" Rio I… thought that you'd…"

"I'd what? Fall madly in love with you?" scoffed Rio, rolling her eyes, "Dream on, little boy. As if someone like _me_ would ever fall for someone who used the Tome of Black Arts!" Shame flooded across Phayne's heart, which had broken into several small fragments. Trying to hide the hurt tears that threatened to overflow from his eyes, Phayne looked down at the ground where the Angel's Light still layed, mostly intact.

" Rio…"

Suddenly, something caught Phayne's attention that caused the young rancher's eyes to widen with both horror and realization. What was this one thing that caused Phayne to instantly dismiss Rio's cruel words, and slowly begin to smile?

The Angel's Light flower wasn't flickering.

Now one mustn't forget that, though there was no moon shining pale light and the delicate flower's specially woven pot was destroyed, it was still alive and the light coming from the barn was bright enough to push against the darkness. It was then that Phayne became aware of the small weight in his still cupped hands. The weight of a small and delicate Angel's Light.

"What are you grinning about?" demanded Rio.

"That flower's not real," said Phayne, a large smile on his face, "Which means _you_ aren't real and the true Rio's waiting for me back at our home! She's waiting for the smile I hope to give her and whoever's doing this is _not_ going to stop me!" The fake Rio's face gained a look of utter surprise as time and sound slowly began to distort around the two. Not even sparring a tiny glance at the imposter of his lady love, Phayne ran towards the one thing in the dark world around him that had any light besides the brightly shining Angel's Light flower in his hands, the barn.

"I'm coming guys!"


	3. The End

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**Disclaimer: Don't own nuthin' o' Monster Rancher, though de monsters be me own.**

**A/N: Check out this site if ya want ta see what all of the Monsters from 1 through 4 look like!**

Monster Rancher : Legend Cup - Home of the Online MR Tournaments

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**An Angel's Light **

By Corvus no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland

"GRAAAAA! _Fire Uppercut!_" Bright orange fire lit the dark tunnel as the sound of fists colliding against clay echoed across it.

"_Useless, useless. You truly are weak if your punches barely tickle Dokoo_," taunted the purple-skinned Gabu-halfbreed as Squall threw punch after punch at Dokoo's claylike skin. Squall just couldn't understand why his punches weren't working. When he had fought against Don alongside Van and Goliath, Squall easily managed to hurt the altered Gabu, who was easily five times the size of Dokoo. What's more, every time a punch or kick connected, the following move always seemed a mite more sluggish than the one before.

'_I can't lose to this jerk, I can't! I gotta be strong! For Tohru! For Phayne! For everyone!_' With another loud roar, Squall landed another hard punch at Dokoo's jeering face, sending the purple-skinned Gabu-halfbreed flying across the tunnel. Though he had disappeared from view, Squall knew that Dokoo would soon be back and more than capable of fighting against him. Gasping heavily for air, Squall kneeled down to the ground not failing to notice how much sluggish his movements had become.

"_I… I have no strength left… maybe Dokoo's right… Maybe I'm not strong…_"

"You don't have to be, Squall!"

Squall's furry head shot up and he looked around wildly. "_Phayne? Phayne! Where are you!_"

"I'm right here beside you, Squall! Where I'll always be! Now listen up, you don't have to be strong brawn-wise to strong period! It's not just the strength of one's muscles but one's brain that affects the outcome of the match."

"_One's brain…? You mean… use my head?_" mumbled Squall as he slowly started to stand. "_I have been! I've been hitting all the weakspots on that damn Gabu's body and he still won't go down!_"

"Then try something else. Use your head you hothead!"

"_Hothead!_"

"_Conversing with yourself is a sign of insanity._" Squall looked up to see a grinning Dokoo, whose body was totally unmarred still. Squall growled low in his throat and was about to throw another punch when he spotted something. There was a faint bruise on the Gabu-halfbreed's body that didn't resemble Squall's fist but rather… a stalactite. '_That's it! I can't hurt him but rocks can!_'

Squall grinned a Cheshire Cat grin as he jumped up into the air, curling up into a ball as bright orange fire ignited around his body. "_Fire Charge!_" Squall's flaming body zoomed straight towards Dokoo, who had yet to move and, instead, was laughing quite loudly.

"_Stupid Garu. Dokoo does not hurt from your puny attacks!_" Imagine Dokoo's surprise at seeing Squall fly past him and rebound off a stalagmite and up towards the roof of the rock cavern. Squall proceeded to a fabulous impression of a pinball as his flaming body rebounded off the many stalactites that covered the rock tunnel's ceiling, causing several dozens of them to fall to the ground below. Dokoo only had time to roar in anger as a particularly large stalactite impaled him completely into the ground.

* * *

"_Hsssssssss. Do you really think you can esssssscape me little morssssssel?_" Punisher's hissing voice seemed to come from all directions in the misty wood. Tohru, however, continued to run, ignoring the Naga's fear-inspiring voice.

'_What can I do? What can I do? I can't fight him! I can't!_' Tohru's thoughts traveled back to when she had first, and last, fought a Naga. It had ended with her staying an entire week in the hospital and the Naga being expelled from any legal tournament battles. The same Naga attempted to kill her truly at the hospital but was fought off by a very mad Squall, who had been aching for a chance to avenge Tohru's honor.

Thanks to that unfortunate incident, Tohru had acquired a strong fear of Naga's that she'd come to a near nervous-breakdown at the sight of even a baby Naga. Now with one chasing her, it was a wonder that she hadn't had a heart attack. Squall and the others had tried to help her conquer her fear but it always ended badly, especially for Tohru. '_Oh what will Squall think of me now? Running away from an opponent…_' Tohru's crush on the Garu-purebred was a secret shared only between the girls of Genki Ranch. Tohru's only regret now was that she never had the chance to share her feelings with the fiery Squall.

"Don't think like that, Tohru! You can beat him if you try!" Tohru nearly tripped in her surprise at hearing Phayne's voice come seemingly out of thin air.

"_Phayne? PHAYNE! Help! I can't fight him! I-_"

"You can fight him, Tohru! The only thing that's holding you back is your fear! Stand up and fight not for us but for yourself! Win against the fear in your heart! Don't let it control you anymore than it already has!" Tohru was silent for some time as she ran. Suddenly, a fierce light entered Tohru's eyes and she skidded to a stop and whirled around to see Punisher slithering towards her.

"_Ssssssso you've ssssstopped running now? Hasssss my morssssssssel finally realized her fate?_"

"_Eat this you overgrown garden snake!_" shouted Tohru, a neon pink glow enveloping her body. "_Mocchi Cannon!_" A thick beam of pure energy burst forth from Tohru's mouth to fly across and slam into Punisher's chest, sending the Naga flying across the forest to impact upon the sharp trunk of a tree.

* * *

"_You truly are a disgrace, Van. Letting your instincts have their way with you as they did before in that tournament those years ago. Do you remember what happened Van? Do you remember the blood you spilled?_"

"_SHUT UP!_" howled Van, slamming his lupine body in Centaur's equine legs, sending the purebred towards the ground. Van did indeed remember. How could he not? He had nearly killed and ate a monster that had used an attack that disgraced Van's honor and sent the Tiger into a rage that nearly cost the Hare's life. After having knocked the Hare out of the ring, Van had attempted to rip open his throat but was stopped by Goliath, who had used his powerful hands to hold the snarling Tiger back. What scared Van the most though was that he wanted to tear into the Hare's body, to eat its flesh and drink its blood. Van never really talked about it to anyone but it the thought of him losing control of himself frightened him much more.

"We all have darkness, Van. It's what balances each other of us." The only indication Van gave that he heard his master's voice was the slight hesitation in his step that nearly cost him his left leg. Luckily, Centaur's silver spear merely cut into Van's leg instead of slicing the entire thing off, but Van now had a wound on his leg that would undoubtedly cost him this fight. Grabbing the spear in his jaws, Van sprinted off towards the opposite direction as Phayne-sama's voice continued to speak.

"It's the fact that your are afraid of losing control again that makes you a monster of the light instead of the darkness. It's not the instincts or the thoughts behind the act but the feelings behind them that make us either good or bad."

Van continued to run as Centaur slowly began to catch up behind him. Suddenly skidding to a halt, Van whirled around and tossed the spear high into the air. Centaur stopped his chase after the Tiger purebred and reached up to catch the spear. Bright bolts of lightning suddenly ripped through the air and impacted the metallic spear, filling it with electricity. Centaur's dark eyes widened as the electrified spear landed in his hand, sending him into the dark depths of oblivion.

* * *

Goliath was gasping in horror as the memory played across his mind. It was months ago during one of his frequent visits to his Pixie friend Lelola. Lelola was a wild monster that had a home but her rancher had passed away and instead of finding another ranch, she decided to live it out in the wild, despite many offers from Phayne and Rio. Lelola and Goliath had met when the Golem-purebred was out collecting numerous fruits for a special festive event the ranch was planning on participating in. Goliath and Lelola ended up reaching for the same fruit and one heated argument later, the two became the best of friends. They often talked together as they took walks around the woods near the Genki Ranch and had a few sparring sessions together.

It was during one of these sparring sessions that disaster had struck. Goliath had recently learned a new attack that he had been itching to try out and Lelola was more than willing to help satisfy that itch. However, Goliath had underestimated the power behind the attack and was horrified to watch as Lelola's body went flying through the air to impact heavily on the ground. Panicking, Goliath had taken Lelola's unconscious body back to the ranch and nearly went berserk trying to get help for her.

It took two weeks for the Pixie to wake up and many more before she could even fly again. Goliath blamed himself entirely even though Lelola had told him again and again that it was more her fault for doing something as stupid as to say "Hit me" to a Golem. For a time, Goliath had refused to participate in battles for fear of hurting other monsters and it wasn't until Lelola had smack him in the face that he started fighting again, but even then, there was still a great leash upon Goliath's full power.

"Goliath, what happened was an accident that cannot be reversed or altered. I won't say you must use your full strength, only you can be the judge of that, but I will say that it is wrong for you to never want to fight again. There will be times when all you can do is fight and what then? Will you let yourself die because you refused to fight?" Goliath's eyes widened at both Phayne's voice and the rancher's words.

'_Phayne's right. I can't just not fight anymore… I got to get back to the ranch and Lelola!_' Goliath's golden eyes lit up as he kneel down before Undine, surprising the water monster. Goliath raised a large hand and held it before Undine's face, not failing to notice her imploring look. One flick of the Golem's rocky finger was all that it took to knock Undine back into the water.

* * *

Brillig circled the ceiling of the banquet hall, firing jets of flame down at Vesuvius. The Dragon-purebred was in a near panic and was acting more on instinct than anything else. So engrossed was he that Brillig failed to notice that most of the hall was alit in flames and that Vesuvius' attacks were coming closer to home.

"_Thou truly art a wicked beast! Thou wast not satisfied with thine own near-destruction of thine home, now thou has sought to strike against mine! Air Shot!_" A thin slice of wind-energy flew past Brillig's wings as he rolled through the air, his thoughts focusing back towards an event in his childhood. Brillig was quite young at when he had gotten a bad cold. Unfortunately, Brillig's furnace was beginning to produce fire and the young Dragon was unable to stop himself from shooting out pint-sized fireballs everytime he sneezed. This, of course, led to the near burning up of the entire Ranch and it was only thanks to Van's quick thinking and Squall pyro-powers that there was any ranch at all. Brillig blamed himself for what nearly occurred despite protests from his friends and family.

"It was an accident, Brillig. No matter how much you want to deny it you weren't at fault! You were just beginning to learn how to breathe fire and you had quite a cold to boot. Now you have much better control over your fire than any Dragon has ever had! Prove to yourself that you are in control of your fires, Brillig!" Although Brillig was surprised by Phayne's voice appearing out of thin air, he didn't let that stop him from flying across the air while Vesuvius continued to attack from the ground.

"_Phayne's right. I do have control over my fire. Especially enough to do this! SALAMANDER!_" Brillig breathed out a large wall of flames and pushed down upon it, causing it to crash heavily against the surprised Vesuvius. The red armored body of the Durahan-halfbreed was imbedded deep in the ground while the helmet was melted into the ground.

* * *

Ghars could not help but laugh in dark mirth as his Zan servants helped him focus the spell that plagued Phayne and his monsters. Ghars was a unique Joker for, unlike any other Joker, Ghars delighted in using various dark magics to kill monsters and humans alike. He still used a scythe but hardly had need of it for many of victims died under his black spells and those that didn't ended up as his servants much like the Zan breeds before him.

Each Zan served as a focus point between Ghars and his victim, enhancing and strengthening the spell through their artificial bodies. Ghars was rather thankful that they had stumbled quite literally into his cold embrace for his meals and kills become much more numerous than ever before because of them. However, Ghars failed to notice the tiny smiles that began to grow on his victims' faces as beads of sweat began to appear on his seravants' own. It was not until his servants were blasted backwards and into the ground that Ghars became aware of the sudden twist in the game.

"What is this! How did you escape from my Nightmare-Wave?" Phayne grinned and held the Angel's Light flower closer to his chest.

"Someone like you could never understand. We possess something far stronger than your magics. It's called love, Ghars, and it is something that is shared between all of us!"

"Love?" scoffed the Joker magic-user. "Do you really think love can help you defeat me?"

"_No, but we can._" Ghars whirled around and saw what were once his servants standing before him, their eyes all reflecting their newly gained freedom.

"What! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE! You should be under my complete control!" The leader Zan, a purebred, stepped forward and brandished his steel claws before him.

"_You're going to pay for what you made us do you cold-hearted bastard,_" said Zan slowly before sprinting towards Ghars, his sickles held ready. Metal clashed upon metal as Zan's sickles impacted against Ghars' scythe.

"You fool. Do you really think you can defeat me all by yourself?" hissed Ghars, the eyes on his mask glowing dark red. Had Zan a mouth, he would have smirked.

"_Whoever said I was alone?_" Ghars had only enough time to look up and watched as five pairs of sickles ripped into everything that kept his ethereal body together. His cape and gloves were torn asunder and his scythe sliced into several pieces, the blade included. All that was left of the blood-thirsty monster known to the world as Ghars was his mask and that do was quickly destroyed by Zan.

There was a moment of tense silence as Phayne and his monsters warily watched the Zan breeds for any sign of attack against them as they too did the same. The dark night was already rapidly turning back into day as Ghars' spell followed him into death. However, neither group noticed this as they were too busy watching each other for any sign of attack. It was not until Zan and the other five Zan breeds bowed down to Phayne and the others that the tense moment was broken, especially by Zan himself who spoke on colleauge's behalf.

"_We owe you a great debt Master Rancher Phayne, for breaking Ghars' spell and giving our lives back to us. Ask whatever you wish from us and will grant it without hesitation._" Phayne and his monsters exchanged bewildered looks that soon turned into mutual grins.

"You guys up for a quick spar?" Zan looked up at Phayne, surprise quite evident in his red eyes. However, had he a mouth, Zan would have grinned as he stood with his sickles at ready.

"_Whenever you're ready…_"

* * *

Rio sighed tiredly as she watched the waves splash against the sandy shores of the lake. She was resting on log near the sands of the lake's beach as the sun began to set just past the Kageryu mountain range. After abandoning all thoughts of chores, Rio had thought of visiting her friends in Togle but found she didn't even have the energy for that. With nothing else to really do, Rio simply went down to the lake and stared into its blue depths for hours, silently thinking back to fond memories between herself and Phayne.

"I wonder what he's doing right now…"

"He's standing right over here watching how the sun makes you look far more beautiful than ever, even though that seems near impossible." Rio gasped and whirled around to see Phayne and their monster friends standing not far behind her, all looking a little worse for wear.

"Phayne! You're back!" exclaimed Rio happily. Phayne smiled and nodded, carefully hiding the Angel's Light flower behind his back. Rio, however, noticed this. "What are you hiding behind your back?"

"Oh… nothing… Just something I thought could cheer you up a bit," said Phayne as he took the flower out from behind his back and held it before her. Rio's chestnut eyes widened as tears began to form. 'That's an Angel's Light… but they only grow on-Oh my goodness! He didn't!'

"Phayne… you didn't climb Infinity Mountain did you?" Phayne laughed and shook his head, sending small patches of dust flying.

"No, no. Just one of the Plateaus of Dorugora," said Phayne, like he was talking about the weather. Rio's eyes widened even further as she stared incredulously at Phayne.

"The Plateaus of Dorugora! You… You…" Tears began to flow down Rio's pale face and Phayne immediately became worried.

" Rio? Rio, what's wrong? Don't you like the flower?" Rio shook her head and wiped away her tears.

"No, I love it's just… no ones ever done something like this for me and I… I just realized…" Rio choked back a sob as she sprinted forward and wrapped her arms around Phayne's torso, causing him to drop the flower on the ground where it landed quite safely on a patch of sand.

" Rio…" Phayne's eyes softened as he hugged the sobbing girl and stroked her chestnut-colored hair, whispering sweet words into her ear. Once her tears had died away and she continued to keep a firm hold on his torso, Phayne dared to ask her exactly what she had realized. Rio looked up into Phayne's brown eyes and smiled before whispering gently into his ears the words he had been hoping to hear for quite some time.

"I love you." Phayne's eyes widened before he placed his lips upon hers shortly aftering whispering the words right back. Off to the side, the monsters of Genki Ranch watched their rancher and his assistant 'suck lips' with sappy smiles on their faces.

"_C'mon, let's give them some privacy_," whispered Tohru, turning away from the spectacle.

"_Awww… But I wanna watch!_" whined Squall playfully. Tohru merely smiled before skipping up to him and placing a gentle kiss on his fuzzy cheek.

"_Would you rather watch or participate?_" Tohru giggled before racing off back towards the ranch, leaving behind a gaping Squall whose face was redder than his fur.

"_Squall? You okay there?_" asked Brillig, a grin on his draconic face.

"_No,_" said Squall slowly. "_I just died and entered heaven. I'm off to meet my angel guys!_" Squall raced off after Tohru, leaving behind a trail of dust in his wake. The remaining three chuckled at the sight.

"_You know…_" said Goliath, "_I think I'll go with the flow._" Without another word, Goliath run off towards the woods where Lelola resided. Brillig and Van stared after the Golem before turning to look at each other.

Brillig opened his fanged mouth and said, "_I-_"

"_Don't._"

"_But-_"

"_NO. Go find yourself a female Dragon or something._"

"_That sound like an idea to me!_" With a massive flap of his large wings, Brillig took off into the air and headed towards Philia's ranch. Van chuckled to himself as he walked away towards the woods. Brillig was most likely going to go see Alice, a female Dragon and one of the few monsters that Van could call a friend who lived on another ranch, Philia's to be specific, entirely. He did think that the two of them were rather cute together really. And speaking of cute…

"_I think I'll go visit Anna. I haven't seen her snowy fur in a fortnight!_"

Love was most definitely in the air that night.

* * *


End file.
